THE QUEEN'S GRANDDAUGHTER

Twelve-year-old Blanca’s life is about to change drastically.

As an infanta of Castile in the 12th century, Blanca knows that her future will include an arranged royal marriage, but she hopes to have a few more years of childhood. When Blanca learns that Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, her elderly grandmother, is arriving in Castile to make a match between Blanca’s older sister, Urraca, and the dauphin, Prince Louis of France, she schemes to prevent it, so she can keep her dear sister close. But Eleanor surprises everyone by announcing that she’s selected Blanca to marry Louis instead. Blanca is stubborn, impetuous, and fierce, but so is Eleanor, and nothing will change her mind. During the long, arduous journey across the Pyrenees with their enormous retinue, Eleanor, Blanca (renamed Blanche by her grandmother), and Suna, Blanca’s dear companion and friend, encounter wondrous sights, terrifying dangers, and kindnesses from unexpected sources. The narrative varies in pace in tandem with the rising and falling action, following the party day to day, shedding light on their backgrounds, and describing both periods of boredom and breathtaking adventures. Readers are privy to Blanca’s thoughts, fears, loneliness, moments of bravery, gradually changing relationship with Eleanor, and growing insights into Suna’s plight as an Almohad, or Muslim with Moroccan roots. Readers will thrill at Blanca’s thoughtful, inspired decisions as she moves “forward to greet the unknown.”

A long-ago time and its fascinating history brought vividly to life.